"Best Long-Term Move: Pistons sign Ben Gordon and Charlie VillanuevaDetroit let Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace walk this offseason, and they signed younger clones. OK, so clones might be a bit of an exaggeration but it isn’t too far off the mark.

Joe Dumars watched a pair of aging veterans — one a versatile big man who can shoot, the other a one-dimensional scorer — depart the Pistons for other teams in the free agent market. The end result of these moves are simple: Neither AI or ‘Sheed were players capable of being a cornerstone type of talent and the same can be said for Gordon and Villanueva.

Gordon is a talented scorer, that has never been questioned, but let’s face it — the guy has never excelled at anything else for extended periods of time. His shot selection if often questioned despite the fact that, when he is in cruise control, there are few players who can light it up from the perimeter like he can. Gordon’s defense is also probably bashed a little too much, but he will never be confused with an All-Defensive NBA selection.

In many ways, he is Allen Iverson just preferring to do more of his damage from the perimeter as opposed to attacking the basket and possessing fewer point guard skills."

"I asked Abunassar, based on his work for more than a decade with players of every caliber, but many stars, if he thought Daye was ready to play as an NBA rookie given a shot.

“I think so – for sure,” he said. “He’s played five on five out here every day with Garnett, (Paul) Pierce, Billups, (Al) Harrington, Tayshaun, Rudy Gay, and Austin, many days, was one of the top scorers on the floor. It’s going to be an issue of mentally, can he handle the long season? It’s different for a rookie. I do think he has to prove he can guard. He did a nice job of that out here.”

Abunassar said Daye has put on some weight, six or seven pounds, and admits that strength is going to be an issue for him. But Daye’s sense of how to play and his complete willingness to follow training and nutritional advice has Abunassar sold that he’s going to pay dividends for the Pistons.

“The big thing with Austin is his strength, but he’s so skilled and smart,” Abunassar said. “Some guys just have a knack for playing basketball. In the years I’ve done what I’m doing, working with Chauncey and Tayshaun and Kevin Garnett and Baron (Davis) and Jermaine O’Neal – some of the better players in the league – all of those guys share something: When the lights come on, they all have a knack for playing. I’ve had many others who were skilled but just can’t put it together. In Austin’s case, he has that knack for playing basketball.”

Much like Prince, Abunassar believes Daye will never grow noticeably bigger and more muscular, but will gain enough strength incrementally to get where he needs to be to allow his skills to emerge.

“Think about Reggie Miller, Tayshaun, Rip Hamilton – they’re never going to get big,” he said. “(Prince) doesn’t look a lot different, but Tayshaun right now, after eight straight weeks with me, is as strong as he’s ever been, but you won’t notice it visually. Austin will gain the strength that will allow him to do a few more things on the court, like guard bigger players."

"David (River Rouge, Mich.): If the Pistons fall out of the playoff picture like everyone is saying, do you see Joe D making a trade before the trade deadline? If so, don’t you think T-Mac would be a good fit? He is the highest-paid player this year and it’s the last year of his contract.

Langlois: Loaded questions, David. First, “everyone” isn’t saying the Pistons are likely to fall out of the playoff picture. There’s not the certainty that they’ll make the field as there has been for the last six or seven years, but they’re certainly in the mix with a handful of other teams for what appears to be four of the eight Eastern Conference playoff berths. As for Tracy McGrady, Houston has a valuable bargaining chip in his expiring deal. They can hang on to it, see his salary come off the cap next July and then go heavily after someone like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire. So if you’re going to tempt them to trade that contract – and lose their chance to be a major player in next summer’s free agency – you’re going to have to give them a player of real value. The Pistons would have to combine two of their three largest salaries – they belong to Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon – in order for a McGrady deal to work, in all likelihood. I don’t see a fit with the Pistons."

"Leif (Sydney, Australia): With Curtis Jerrells signing with the Spurs, I take it that he will not be attending Pistons camp. Would Joe D be looking at bringing in another person to fill that void?

Langlois:As I mentioned in the blog posted Wednesday on Pistons.com, Leif, the Spurs gave Jerrells some guaranteed money – the Pistons’ offer to him wouldn’t have paid him unless he made the regular-season roster, which he knew wasn’t likely – so he understandably went there. Scott Perry, Pistons VP, told me Wednesday morning that the Pistons weren’t sure if they were going to add another point guard to the camp roster. They won’t take someone just to have a body in camp. They’ll want somebody with enough size, strength and quickness to offer some resistance to Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum for camp workouts and scrimmages."